Election 2017 - Party Policies - Labour and Employment/Welfare - Benefits and Income Support
27th May 17, 9:06am
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Benefits and Income Support
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- Advocate that all welfare recipients of working age who are able to work either work full time, engage in full-time training, or undertake part-time work.
- Push for a life-time limit of five years for support under the Sole Parent Support programme, and a life-time limit of three years for support under the Jobseekers Benefit, with “income management” being applied to beneficiaries when those limits are reached.
- Extend income management to any parent who has additional children while on a benefit.
- Cut working for families and paid parental leave payments to upper income earners to better fund more effective, targeted programs for those truly in need of help.
- Continue to advocate for continued and more generous state support for those with physical or mental conditions who require support, including improved access to supported living arrangements for those with serious mental illness.
- Read more here.
- Reinstate the Training Incentive allowance for degree-level courses.
- Increase all core benefits by 20 percent.
- Increase the amount people can earn before their benefit is cut.
- Increase the value of Working For Families for all families.
- Remove financial penalties and excessive sanctions for people receiving benefits.
- Read more here and here.
- Amend the principles of the Social Security Act so they reflect a fair and inclusive welfare system; and ensure that any language, literacy or technological barriers do not impede individuals from accessing entitlements
- Extend the eligibility criteria of the Supported Living Payment over time to ensure those temporarily unable to work are provided with proper support during a time of illness or injury.
- Expand previous commitment to pay the equivalent of the unemployment benefit to employers who take on an apprentice. This is an extension of the Kickstart Apprenticeships scheme.
- Lift the abatement threshold for beneficiaries to $150 to enable more part-time and casual work to help beneficiaries transition from unemployment to full employment. Smooth benefit transition processes so that people shifting in and out of work often are not penalised through the benefit system.
- Explore the introduction of a Training Incentive Package that would provide careers advice for people who are unemployed and ready to work, followed by work experience, and a transition into work or further education and training. Reinstate the Training Incentive Allowance.
- Read more here, here, and here.
- Set a target to eliminate poverty in Aotearoa by 2025.
- Make a cost of living adjustment to all benefits.
- Increase the focus on the role of the Ministerial Committee on Poverty to address the drivers of poverty for tamariki and their whānau.
- Read more here.
- Investing $2 billion in our Family Incomes Package, and are especially focused on helping low income families with children and steep housing costs get ahead.
- Increasing the $14,000 income tax threshold to $22,000, and the $48,000 tax threshold to $52,000.
- Removing the Independent Earner Tax Credit of up to $10 a week. Lifting the Family Tax Credit Rates for young children to those of children aged 16 to 18.
- Increases Accommodation Supplement rates for a two person household to be $25 and $75 a week, while the maximum rates for larger households will increase between $40 and $80 a week.
- Job seekers without children who refuse work experience or training or recreational drug rehabilitation will lose 50 per cent of their benefit entitlement after four weeks of not meeting their obligations, with further reductions if that continues.
- Read more here and here.
- Require greater scrutiny of the benefit system, adjustment benefits and abatement levels.
- Re-introduce “Work for the Dole” – to help people of all ages and ability to get out of bed, develop self-confidence and a sense of pride in having a job.
- Pay the Job Seekers Benefit to approved employers when taking on an apprentice.
- Read more here and here.
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